The hot chocolate market has evolved, Harney says. ``It's definitely moving from children to adults.''

Harney's son and business partner Paul Harney says the company has received thousands of orders for hot chocolate this year. Sales are up 50 percent to 60 percent from last year.

Paul met Maribel Lieberman at a food show early last year and agreed to market her blend of Aztec dark chocolate powder. Since then, Lieberman's product has been featured on ``The Oprah Winfrey Show'' and in O, The Oprah Magazine as well as in the magazine Departures.

In December, Harney & Sons, whose primary business is tea, ran out of the chocolate and had to quickly order more to fill the demand, John Harney says.

MarieBelle Hot Chocolate isn't cheap. The 20-ounce tins sell for $20 in the company's catalog and on its website, www.harney.com.

Jonathan Rutstein, president of Bread & Chocolate in Wells River, Vt., also reports an increase in sales this year.

Bread & Chocolate, in its 15th year, has seen sales pick up dramatically in the past few years, Rutstein said. ``Sales of hot chocolate continues to surge.''

Rutstein says his company also found itself short this year when it ran out of tins for two of its flavors in early October. ``I was shocked when I went back and saw we didn't have anymore.''

Bread & Chocolate sells hundreds of thousands of tins nationwide each year, Rutstein says. The company retails its product at department stores such as T.J. Maxx and Marshalls as well as at higher end specialty stores.

The company offers 22 flavors ranging from Chocolate-Marshmallow to a holiday line called Heavenly Coco.

A 9 1/2-ounce tin sells for just under $3 at discount stores, Rutstein says. But some products can approach $10 or more at specialty shops.

Bread & Chocolate markets its hot chocolate to adults. ``Because of where we sell, the only people buying our products are adults,'' Rutstein says. ``It's not Swiss Miss or Land 0' Lakes.''

Marketing researcher Information Resources Inc. reports almost a 4 percent increase in sales of cocoa mixes from 2001 to 2002. Americans spent more than $300 million in 2002 on the mixes and syrups, IRI reports. Information Resources tracks sales at supermarkets, drugstores and discount retailers across the country.

Carnation was the leading chocolate milk and cocoa mix brand in 2002, according to IRI. But private label brand syrups and powders were in the top five of sales. Higher-end labels such as Abuelita, Ghirardelli, Stephen's Gourmet and Ibarra are all among IRI's top 15 cocoa sellers of 2002.

Adults also are going out for hot chocolate. Many of Connecticut's trendiest coffee shops, restaurants, and bars are serving up the beverage most of us used to get only from our mom.

Kim Halusuhak, a manager at Xando Coffee & Bar in Hartford, said sales of hot chocolate have picked up. ``I think people are giving up caffeine but still like to have the sugar,'' she says. She compared hot chocolate to a candy bar that gives customers a boost of energy.

The coffee shop is bypassing the Swiss Miss and serving up sophisticated specialty drinks.

``They are definitely adding flavors,'' Halusuhak says. Two of the most popular flavors at Xando are mint and caramel.

Other coffee shop employees around the state have also seen an increase in sales this winter. ``It's a great alternative to coffee,'' said Laura Hargrove of Tisane Tea & Coffee in Hartford. ``It's a great pick-me-up.''

Klekolo World Coffee in Middletown knocks its hot chocolate up a notch with two shots of espresso. The drink, called the Amsterdam, is one of the shop's bestselling drinks in the winter, says Dan Trombadore, a manager. ``It's a nice adult twist,'' he says. ``It's really the best of both worlds.''

Klekolo sells hundreds of Amsterdams and straight hot chocolates a month in the winter, he says.

The shop offers both a dark and a white hot chocolate with Trombadore ordering about 100 pounds of white chocolate a month during the winter. Sales of the dark and white are 50/50, he says.

All the coffee shops say they use milk, not water, in their hot chocolate. Both Rutstein and Paul Harney say they'd recommend milk with their product.

``Our hot chocolate is very rich,'' Harney says. ``There is too much bite if you use water.''

Rutstein agrees. ``There is no cocoa that is going to taste anywhere like it should with straight water,'' Rutstein says. ``If you make mine with whole milk, it's going to knock your socks off.''

Those who want fewer calories can add a little milk to hot chocolate made primarily with water.

Rutstein and Paul Harney also agree that sales are up this year because of an early cold and snowy winter throughout the country.

``We have sure had a lot of snow, and our cocoa sales have reflected it,'' Rutstein says. ``There is nothing like a cup of hot chocolate when it's snowing out.''

Harney agrees. ``A nice cold winter always helps,'' he said.

John Harney has a different theory on why adults are now gravitating toward hot chocolate.

``People are always moving around,'' he says. In the '90s companies like Starbucks and Xando revived slumping coffee sales. Now the industry is moving toward hot chocolate, he said. ``It comes and goes and we need to widen with it,'' he said.

Harney & Sons has offered varieties of hot chocolate off and on for decades. ``We tried everything and it wasn't selling,'' he says.

This past year with the introduction of MarieBelle hot chocolate, the company finally has the success it has been looking for.

As more adults convert, look for even greater success from small businesses that supply specialty hot chocolates.

``My only regret is we should have been on the ball and sold it sooner,'' John Harney says.